Why it works: Corn and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,165 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Corn Oysters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Grate the corn or cut down through the kernels and scrape out the corn.
In a bowl, combine the corn, eggs, flour, and salt.
Heat hot lard in a frying pan.
Fry
Using a large spoon, dip the mixture into the hot lard to form cakes.
Fry until brown, then turn to cook the other side.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + eggtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,484 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sweet corn
- Provides the main bulk and sweet flavour of the fritters.
- Eggs
- Bind the corn together and help the fritters hold their shape while frying.
- Flour
- Adds body to the batter so it holds together rather than falling apart in the fat.
The step that matters
Fry until brown, then turn to cook the other side. The lard must be hot enough before the cakes go in. Hot fat seals the outside quickly, which helps the fritters hold their shape and brown evenly rather than absorbing grease and turning soggy.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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